28th April 1995 Support Group Application Note Number: 273 Issue: 0.4 **DRAFT** Author: DW CD ROM Drives and their Handling under RISC OS Explained This Application Note details the interfacing of, and protocols underlying, CD ROM drives and their handling under RISC OS. Applicable Related Hardware : Application All Acorn computers running Notes: 266: Developing CD ROM RISC OS 3.1 or greater products for Acorn machines 269: File transfer between Acorn and foreign platforms Every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this leaflet is true and correct at the time of printing. However, the products described in this leaflet are subject to continuous development and Support Group improvements and Acorn Computers Limited reserves the right to change its specifications at any time. Acorn Computers Limited Acorn Computers Limited cannot accept liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of any information or particulars in this leaflet. Acorn, the Acorn Logo, Acorn Risc PC, ECONET, AUN, Pocket Acorn House Book and ARCHIMEDES are trademarks of Acorn Computers Limited. Vision Park ARM is a trademark of Advance RISC Machines Limited. Histon, Cambridge All other trademarks acknowledged. ©1995 Acorn Computers Limited. All rights reserved. CB4 4AE Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 28th April 1995 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Interfacing CD ROM Drives 3 Features of CD ROM Drives 4 CD ROM Formatting Standards ("Coloured Books") 5 CD ROM Data Storage Standards 7 CDFS and CD ROM Drivers 8 Accessing Data on CD ROMs Produced for Non-Acorn Platforms 11 Troubleshooting 12 Appendix A: Useful Contacts 13 Appendix B: PhotoCD Mastering Bureaux 14 Appendix C: References 14 Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 2 Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 28th April 1995 Introduction Considering the amount of data which has to be stored in today's Multimedia applications (especially those incorporating moving video clips) it is often impractical to distribute the software as a set of floppy discs. For this reason, CD ROM is becoming an increasingly popular distribution medium. Even with the high storage capacity (typically 600 MB) of this medium, however, it is often necessary to feed the raw data through a compression system in order to fit it all on the disc. This application note aims to explain the terminology, interfacing, and current capabilities of CD ROM drives and their respective data standards, along with details of their software interfacing to RISC OS. Further data on other multimedia capturing and rendering devices, and associated data compression standards, is available in other supporting Application Notes. Interfacing CD ROM drives Currently, there are four ways of connecting a CD ROM drive to an Acorn computer. These are: SCSI: Currently the most popular method. SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) is an industry- standard peripheral bus, which can move data around in parallel 8-bit chunks. More recently, SCSI 2 has begun to emerge as a standard on high-end systems, giving an effective near-doubling of data transfer speed. The SCSI bus standard allows up to 7 peripheral devices to be connected to the same bus; if you plan to have more than one CD ROM drive on a given machine, SCSI is the recommended option. The fastest SCSI cards available for Acorn machines can transfer data at a sustained 3.5 MB s-1 or so. Acorn SCSI interfaces can be fitted to the Archimedes 300 and 400 series, the R140, A5000 and the Risc PC; the Archimedes 540 and R260 were supplied with a SCSI card as standard. The Acorn card supports ANSI X3.131 1986 and CCS X3T9.2/85-52 Revision 4B of the SCSI standards; check with your drive supplier for compatibility. IDE: The emerging standard for hard drive interfaces in desktop computers, with the exception of specialised workstations (which mostly use SCSI 2). A number of CD ROM drives equipped with IDE interfaces have been released onto the market, and it is one of these devices which is fitted in the Risc PC 600 CD. As IDE only supports a maximum of two peripheral devices on its data bus, it is only possible to have one IDE CD ROM drive if you already have an IDE hard disc. Bus data transfer speeds are on a par with SCSI 1. Suitable IDE interfaces are fitted as standard to the A4000, A5000 and Risc PC. Although the A3020 also has a suitable interface, cable length limitations imposed by the IDE timing specifications mean that a secondary interface must be used, as the physical size of the A3020 case requires that the drive be housed externally. Parallel: On Acorn machines equipped with a bidirectional parallel port (these machines being the A3010, A3020, A4000, A5000 and Risc PC), it is possible to interface a CD ROM drive to this port, and use a modified set of drivers to access the drive. The hardware interface between the drive and the computer usually has a "straight-through" parallel connector on it in addition to the CD ROM drive connector, so that a printer may be attached to the computer at the same time. The speed by which signal state can be changed on these lines is sufficiently high that data can be transferred at speed roughly equivalent to a SCSI 1 interface. Proprietary: Some third party vendors have developed proprietary interfaces for connecting CD ROM drives; the relevant third party should be contacted directly for the latest details regarding data transfer speeds and the number of drives which can be connected via such an interface. Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 3 Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 28th April 1995 Features of CD ROM Drives Speed In all cases of data transfer between peripheral and computer, there is always a "bottleneck," where one part of the system places a fundamental limit on the rate of data transfer. In the case of hard drives, the bottleneck is often the bus interface; this certainly became the case with fast, cached SCSI drives, hence the advent of SCSI 2. In the case of CD ROM drives, however, the physical mechanism of the CD ROM drive is the limiting factor. The first CD ROM drives were capable of a data access rate of 150K s-1; when compared with the bandwidth sustainable by the SCSI bus, for example, this is very slow. Successors to these drives were classed as "double speed," and implemented such techniques as read-ahead cacheing, increased disc rotation speed and multiple read heads to achieve 300K s-1 transfer. Subsequent refinements have resulted in "quad speed" drives, capable of 600K s-1; these are currently the state of the art, but still have a transfer rate well below the bus bandwidth of SCSI or IDE. Sessioning A CD ROM drive may be described as either "single session" or "multi-session." This distinguishes the capability of a drive's control logic to access multiple catalogues for different parts of the disc, as they were laid down at the time of mastering. As CD is a "write-once" medium, it is not possible to produce a file catalogue, write the files and catalogue to the disc, and then go back to the disc and add some more files without adding a complete new catalogue after the end of the previously written data to cater for the data being appended; in this circumstance, a "single session" drive would only be able to read the data defined in the first catalogue. Most modern drives are multi-session, but it is always wise to check with the supplier. Audio Output Most CD ROM drives are capable of outputting audio information extracted from Red Book Mode 0 (q.v.) CDs; this output is usually presented either at a mini-jack on the CD ROM drive suitable for driving a pair of 35 Ohm (input impedance) headphones, or (in the case of a drive fitted with an audio mixer board) on a header plug to feed into the unfiltered external audio output on the computer, or both. In the case of the Risc PC, the header plug can be fitted onto link LK14; this will also allow audio to be produced via the internal speaker. The quality of sound output from Red Book CDs by the CD ROM drive is determined solely by the Digital to Analogue Converters (DACs) built into it. In the case of White Book (q.v.) CD ROMs the audio is converted by the DAC unit on the appropriate expansion card fitted to the computer, and in the case of CD ROMs containing Replay movies or other application-based samples, the audio is converted by the on-board sound system. In all base configurations, the on-board sound system is built around an 8 bit logarithmic DAC, which gives sound output quality, after filtering, roughly equivalent to a 12 bit linear system. The Risc PC, however, may easily be upgraded to a true 16 bit linear audio system, giving CD quality reproduction. Audio upgrades for earlier machines are available via third parties. Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 4 Support Group Application Note No. 273, Issue 0.4 **DRAFT** 28th April 1995 CD ROM formatting standards ("Coloured Books") Red Book This is the formatting standard which covers "ordinary" audio CDs, and is defined by Philips and Sony. Dedicated audio data is recorded as CD-DA (Compact Disc Digital Audio) in PCM (Pulse Code Modulated) format. Red Book is the standard upon which all subsequent CD ROM standards are ultimately based.